I would have preferred Assibey-Yeboah retained as MP – Freddie Blay

The National Chairman of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Freddie Blay has kicked against assertions that the party sponsored the newly elected candidate for New Juabeng South against the incumbent Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah.

Dr. Assibey-Yeboah, a two-time MP lost the primaries over the weekend to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Free Zones Authority, Michael Okyere-Baafi.

The issue about the protection of some key sitting MPs also has come into play considering their vital roles in parliament.

But Mr. Blay says “of course, I’m speaking with facts. I will have preferred Assibey-Yeboah to have retained the seat considering the very vital role he has been playing as Chairman of the Finance Committee in Parliament.”

“But as I said is democracy and if it’s a contest, he was confident and I believe somehow very confident he will return to Parliament”, he told an Accra based radio station monitored by MyNewsGh.com

The astute MP will exit Parliament at the end of August this year.

In all, some 40 incumbent Members of Parliament lost to new parliamentary candidates.



The casualties include:

Chairman of Parliament’s Finance Committee Dr. Mark Assibey Yeboah

Chairman of Parliament’s Communications Committee Fredrick Opare Ansah

Chairman of Parliament’s Education Committee William Quaitoo

Chairman of Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee Ben Abdallah

Chairman of Parliament’s Government Assurances Committee Collins Owusu Amankwaah

Chairman of Parliament’s Youth and Sports Committee Alex Agyekum

Also, Vice Chairman of Parliament’s Agriculture Committee Abraham Odoom

Vice-chairman of Parliament’s Roads Committee Kofi Brako

Vice-chairman of Parliament’s Trade and Industry Committee Ato Panford

Other notable Members of Parliament who play key roles in the law-making house including Ahmed Arthur, Nana Akua Afriyie, Vincent Sowah Odotei, Okyem Aboagye, Joe Mensah, Ama Sey and Kennedy Kankam have also lost their seats in the race.